"Lock your keys in your car?"

Have you ever felt the sense of helplessness by locking your keys in your car? The moment you hear the door shut there is a clear signal that the keys did not exit the car with you! What if you locked the keys in your car, left the motor running and the CD player blasting today's newest songs? Now, consider how you would feel if this were your mother's car and she was coming out of the store to go home and her keys were the ones you were using! Got the picture?

This morning as I left my Saturday morning hang-out... Cracker Barrel...a young man was standing between my car and a blue Chevrolet. His countenance was suggestive of someone who had just lost his best friend. He was trying to run a stick down between the rubber and glass in one of the car's rear doors. As I approached him, he asked, "Mr., would you happen to have a coat hanger in your car?" Now, in a moment of stupidity, I asked, "Lock your keys in your car?" My first thought was of the answer given by one of the "Blue Collar" comedians, "Nope, just washed it and I want to hang it up to dry! Here's your sign...!" Then, I checked through the stuff in the backseat and under my golf clubs in the trunk, but no coat-hanger! I told the young man that I would go to my office and get one and bring it back to him. "It will only take ten minutes and I will be right back," I added.

Ten minutes later, I pulled back in the parking lot and there was the blue Chevy, but another person had been added to the scene. Yep, his mother! Her expression was one of disbelief that a son of hers could be so foolish as to lock her keys in her car! The words were scarce between them as the young man was sitting on the front bumper and his mother was leaning on the trunk lid. I gave them the hanger, wished them well, and made a quick exit!

I wonder what the conversation was like on the way home? Did the son remind his mother that it was Mother's Day weekend and he hoped she had a wonderful day tomorrow? Did he load her favorite CD? Was their a mutual laugh at the son's expense? Will either of them share this story with the husband/father, so he can remind them of their stupidity for years to come?

Oh, well, I will never know! One thing I do know is that I feel a bit better for having taken a few minutes of my time to try to help out a friend! A friend? Yes! You see, I think a stranger is just a friend that I have not met! It was only a few minutes of time, fifty cents worth of gas, and a little inconvenience, but I have the rest of the day to enjoy the blessings of helping someone who was stuck in Cracker Barrel's parking lot!

It is a goooooood feeling!